Well y'all, I posted a while back that I was lucky enough to draw a once in a lifetime elk tag as a resident in North Dakota. This hunt was for a cow elk.
A good friend (also a member here) was/ is a great help because he not only helped me with all the info that I could possibly need but he also helped me with my load development.
I got furloughed from the RR in April, so we moved back to VA in July. I booked plane tickets and hotel in early May just in case we did in fact move. I also called several landowners once I found out I drew a tag. Surprisingly, most of them gave me permission to hunt their land. With all the info and land to hunt (roughly 30,000 acres) I had really high hopes.
Opening day, a friend and I hiked roughly 8 miles on public land without seeing elk. The same went for next day.
On the third day, I saw 5 elk with about 15 minutes of shooting light left at 1153 yards. It was a cross canyon shot that I was not comfortable taking due to the cross wind.
Day four, we came back to the same area. I didn't see any elk but my friend watched a small herd jump a fence on the property that we could hunt. By the time I got to the area (we were watching different canyons) they were gone. That evening didn't have any elk action.
Day five. No elk of the morning, so we went to a different property (20,000 acres) with a local to scout. Didn't see any elk but we saw several Big Horn Sheep at long range and up close. Again no elk for the day.
Day six started that same way as the rest. So mid morning we went to a prairie dog town to have a little fun. My friend had a .204 and a few boxes of bullets. I had a longest kill shot at 254 but hey shot a Badger. I think he won.
With a few hours left of my last day, we decided to go back to the area where he saw the herd a few days ago. My friend (Steve) decides to walk just over a knoll just to see the bottom. He came running back all excited which told me there were elk.
I grabbed my gun, pack, rangefinder, and ran for a small rise about 100 yards away. I got prone with my 300RUM, ranged a cow at 755, doped my scope, and let one fly. Shot way high. The elk ran into a draw and stopped. Steve ran back to the truck for a few more rounds because stupid me only had the one in the chamber because I have to single feed this gun due to bullet length. Three more shots had the same effect. It was obvious that something was wrong with scope. So this time I ran back to the truck and grabbed my backup 300 WinMag and four rounds. And through all this the herd of 12 or so elk didn't go anywhere. They actually started feeding again.
Finally back at my pack, ranged this time at 658 and fired. Same result, shot high but Steve was able to see the bullet impact in the bank behind the elk. I made a quick adjustment in my head and held the crosshairs below her belly right behind her shoulder and fired. The 210gr Berger hit her like a semi truck. It literally knocked her over. After about 45 seconds she tried to stand up but fell down hard again. Shooting light had diminished to we picked up the gear and waited about an hour.
When we walked over to where she dropped and we found blood but no elk. We heard something running down the draw so we backed out till the next morning.
At daylight on day seven, we were hot on the blood trail of my elk. We followed the blood trail for about 150yards and it disappeared. We had found several places where she had bedded and bled out. After three hours of searching, Steve found her in a draw. The roller coaster of emotions that I had felt for the week hit me like a ton of bricks, and the fact that we had put in about 45 miles worth of boot leather, but it was worth it.
I know it's a long post and I'm sorry for it, but a lot of things happened and lined up for this Once in a Lifetime hunt in North Dakota.
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